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"Sasori of the Red Sand, we've been searching for three days and still haven't found the mining village. Is your intel fake?" Deidara complained.
The artistic duo had no idea they were being watched.
After circling in the sky several times, Deidara couldn't find anything and finally descended with a frustrated sigh.
"The information came from Zetsu. It shouldn't be wrong," Sasori replied, his voice hoarse and heavy. "The Land of Rivers has recently seen the emergence of the Black Hoe Family, known for selling all kinds of minerals on the black market. They must have a massive source of materials. If we find them, we won't need to deal with Kakuzu anymore—or run missions."
"Alright, alright," Deidara sighed, "I'll give it a few more days."
With that, he carried Sasori back into the sky, ready to search a new area.
As they flew, a sudden shadow cast over them, blocking the sunlight.
Looking up, they saw a figure glowing with radiant golden light. The brilliance behind him obscured his face completely.
"A flying ninja?!" Deidara shouted in alarm. "Did the old man send someone to bring me back?"
The most well-known flying technique was the Light-Weight Rock Technique from Hidden Rock Village.
Sasori's expression darkened. "He's not an Iwa-nin. Deidara, land—now!"
At the same moment, Sasori opened his mouth unnaturally wide and launched a barrage of ultra-high-density poison needles at the mysterious figure.
The needles shot upward like a cloud of death.
Before Deidara could react, the swarm of needles reached the figure—only to bounce off an invisible barrier, scattering like raindrops.
The rain of deflected needles fell back down.
Reacting quickly, Deidara guided the white clay bird downward while flinging out a few palm-sized clay birds.
"Explode," he whispered while forming a hand seal.
Boom—
A series of overlapping explosions lit up the sky, flames blossoming like fireworks.
Unfortunately, it was broad daylight, and the display looked far less impressive.
As the smoke dispersed, Deidara and Sasori, now out of the shadow's range, finally saw their opponent clearly.
He was about 1.8 meters tall, wearing a black robe-style jumpsuit. A pure white mask concealed his face, matching his hair. The mask had no eye holes, exuding a strange and mysterious aura.
This man was Izanami, who had disguised himself using the Transformation Technique.
He looked down and murmured, "Let's start with a greeting."
He raised his right hand toward the sky. A wisp of chakra flame appeared in his palm—only to vanish the next moment.
"…Forget it," he muttered, "That move's still incomplete. It'd be embarrassing to use it now."
"Let's try something else. With my current chakra reserves… this should work."
Forming a unique hand seal, blue chakra flames surged from Izanami's body. Invisible currents whirled around him, causing his white hair to flutter.
He maintained the seal for over thirty seconds. The chakra flames didn't fade.
On the ground, Deidara, standing on a nearby slope, frowned. "What's he doing?"
"He's casting a jutsu," Sasori said darkly. "Be careful. No one who can fly unaided is weak."
He pulled a scroll from within his cloak, preparing to summon his puppet army—but paused.
Deidara's eyes widened in awe. His jaw hung open.
Above them, Izanami waved casually. "If you survive, let's be friends."
Then, he flew away.
It was noon. The sun hung high in the sky like a flaming orb.
Suddenly, that orb seemed to grow larger—as if falling toward them.
"…What is that?"
Elsewhere, Team 8 and a merchant convoy had taken a detour, now climbing a high slope. They stopped and stared skyward, stunned.
Some of the civilians even collapsed in fright.
"Is that a mete… meteor?!" someone shouted.
"No… that's a meteorite!"
That's right—a flaming ball of rock was crashing toward the earth at incredible speed, set ablaze by friction in the atmosphere.
Yūhi Kurenai stared at the sky, murmuring, "That… has to be a coincidence. No one can summon a meteorite…"
But behind her, Hinata Hyuga watched with sparkling eyes.
Back near the impact zone—
"Deidara! Run!" Sasori shouted urgently.
"So… cool…" Deidara whispered in awe, gazing at the descending meteorite. "This… this is art."
"Idiot!"
Sasori cursed and extended a mechanical iron tail from his back, wrapping it around Deidara. Then he jumped off the slope.
While mid-air, he pulled out another scroll and released his trump card.
Poof—!
A white mist cleared, revealing a humanoid puppet dressed in a black jumpsuit, made of both human flesh and puppet parts—bones and organs replaced by mechanical components.
It was the Third Kazekage, now a human puppet.
Chakra threads shot from Sasori's fingers and connected to the puppet. At his command, the Kazekage spread his hands and released a torrent of black iron sand from his sleeves, forming a massive triangular pyramid in the air.
Sasori and Deidara landed atop the pyramid.
Then, Sasori had the Kazekage launch the structure toward another mountain using Magnet Release. Chakra threads pulled the puppet along as they glided around the mountainside, heading for shelter behind another peak.
But the meteorite was falling too fast. There wasn't enough time.
Changing plans, Sasori directed the pyramid to drill downward into the mountain, forming an artificial cave.
The trio entered the cave. Sasori sealed the entrance with dense iron sand and quickly wrapped himself, Deidara, and the Kazekage in layer after layer of protective sand—forming a giant black sphere.
BOOM— — —!
The meteorite hit.
A thunderous explosion shattered the silence of the mountains.
The soundwaves echoed through the valleys, deafening even those deep underground.
Sasori, Deidara, and every creature nearby instantly lost their hearing as the roar of destruction filled the air.
A high-temperature shockwave incinerated flora and fauna alike. The mountain at the impact site crumbled. The shockwave blasted outward, shattering nearby peaks and tearing through the terrain.
Even from 20 kilometers away, Team 8 and the convoy heard the explosion. A massive mushroom cloud rose in the distance.
Despite the mountains between them and the blast site, they felt the ground tremble beneath their feet.
They stood on a slope—and the mountain itself was vibrating.
That was how powerful the meteorite's impact was.
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